Organizers of The International announced Friday that esports organization Gaimin Gladiators have decided not compete at this year’s event, set to take place in Hamburg, Germany, at the Barclays Arena from Sept. 11 – 14. The International is arguably the biggest esports competition of the calendar year for Dota 2.
The organization said the following on Friday in a social media post:
“On Sunday, the Gaimin Gladiators organization informed us that they were withdrawing their team from The International. After talking with the invited players directly, we learned that they were unable to come to an agreement with their organization that would allow them to participate.
“We are now in the process of finding a suitable replacement team.”
Gaimin Gladiators was one of only a select handful of teams directly invited to TI this year. Other teams invited include Team Liquid, Paravision, BetBoom Team, Team Tidebound, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, and Tundra Esports. Teams that earned a spot through regional qualifiers include Natus Vincere, Nigma Galaxy, Aurora Gaming, Xtreme Gaming, Nemesis, Boom Esports, Wildcard Gaming, and HEROIC.
It is unclear what process Valve will use to replace the organization; it could use league point standings to determine a team that might have slightly missed getting into TI this year, or it could simply invite another team, we assume. On a related note, esports publication Hotspawn speculates that, because Gaimin Gladiators compete in the Western Europe region, OG Esports might be a top pick, as it came in third behind Natus Vincere and Nigma Galaxy (who both qualified for T1).
The news is “bizarre” mainly because earlier in the day Gaimin Gladiators posted a countdown to TI on X:
Countdown to Hamburg and The International is on ⌛
We finish 4th in our FISSURE Universe group. Time to regroup and work hard for September! pic.twitter.com/GXSYBNY9wb
— GG | Gaimin Gladiators ⚔️ (@GaiminGladiator) August 22, 2025
Gaimin Gladiators began competing in Dota 2 in February 2022, when it signed the roster of Western European team Team Tickles. The organization performed very well at The International 2024, where it came in second place, ultimately losing to Team Liquid.
We will continue to follow this story and provide an update when more information is available.
On Aug. 19, Valve announced The International Bundle for Dota 2. At the time, Valve said that 50% of every sale would go directly to the team or talent and an additional 30% from each supporter bundle sale would go into the prize pool for the tournament. More details on that can be found here.
The base prize pool for TI in 2025, not taking into account contributions from bundle sales, is $1.6 million USD.